Proven Reasons Why You Need Holiday Travel Insurance

When you become a parent, your world turns upside down, often in the best ways. Sure, you’re sleep-deprived and behind on the laundry, but that new center of your universe doesn’t care a whit. And all you care about is how to protect that new precious human in every way possible – is bubble-wrapping a baby a thing? No, but getting adequate travel insurance for when you finally venture beyond the front door is. It’s not just possible, it’s a must. Here are sound reasons why you need holiday travel insurance, whether you have a baby, toddler, child, tween or teen.

Why You Need Holiday Travel Insurance

Stuff Happens

Our camping trip across British Columbia was going so well. The kids loved sleeping and playing in our VW Westfalia campervan. We were enjoying family time and discovering new towns, cool cafes and attractions along Highway 3 through the southern part of the province. We reached Kootenay Lake a few days into our three-week road trip, and picked our quiet camping spot among giant trees, a short walk to the lakeshore.

After a tasty dinner, we set about building a campfire with newly purchased cedar wood. We felt safe setting up our chairs with a 15-foot distance from the crackling fire. And yet, somehow a flying ember found a landing spot on my four-year old son’s collarbone, resulting in a third-degree burn on his neck and shoulder. Nothing makes your blood run colder than your child’s screams of pain, trust me.

We drove to the nearest hospital in Creston, where staff cared for him with quickly and with minimal paperwork. Our provincial health insurance program covered us. We didn’t have to add worrying about paying for his medical care to our list of woes.

The What If Scenario

But, if we had been in the United States or even another Canadian province, the uncovered, uninsured costs would have been in the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. This is not the type of fun holiday expenditure anyone would wish for.

And yet accidents happen every day. If you’re planning to travel with your family, either over spring break or during the summer months, you want to ensure that everyone is covered for any medical emergencies. Getting a family travel insurance plan is a convenient option.

Murphy’s Law and Expect the Unexpected

Everyone can recite a scary travel story of a relative or friend. About cancelled travel plans, lost luggage, or unscheduled medical ‘holidays’ in the ER. These are cautionary tales – bad things happening to good people – which can happen to anyone, anywhere.

The key is to be prepared, and expect the unexpected. Our camping horror story changed how we travel. We don’t book a trip or go anywhere without purchasing adequate medical travel insurance coverage. While we do have some coverage through our credit cards, it’s not nearly enough, especially for frequent trips across the border into the United States. Don’t get saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills from an accident. This is not the kind of holiday keepsake you want.

Since we are frequent travellers, we maintain an annual travel insurance package. It’s cheaper than purchasing it on a trip-by-trip basis. It’s important to do your homework and figure out what coverage you have, and what you don’t, before you leave home. Many RBC Insurance plans include trip cancellation, baggage loss and travel accidents – important coverage even if travelling within Canada. You can go online and obtain a quote in less than two minutes. Plan and protect yourselves – don’t put your family at risk.

Tech Makes It Easy

You can also travel smarter when it comes to your family’s health and safety by using apps and technology. Whether you’re travelling south of the border or to another province, it’s important to have medical information at your fingertips.

The RBC Path app (available in Apple App Store and Google Play) provides local maps to help you find nearby medical facilities, and contacts for local medical experts who can provide emergency assistance. You can input medical information, and even set up and send notifications to family and friends. All on your smartphone.

Purchasing travel insurance before you depart on a road trip or plane ride abroad should be part of your ‘Travel To-Do’ Checklist. Right up there with getting a yellow fever shot for your trip to the Amazon jungle, or ensuring you’ve packed enough clean socks and underwear.

The reasons are simple, and really, they’re in your own selfish best interest. Prepare, for your children’s sake as well as your own. After all, planning for your next great family adventure is so much more exciting than paying the bills from your last trip’s misadventures.

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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by RBC Insurance. This post contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions and experiences are honest and my own.

I know some countries make it mandatory for the travelers to buy insurance but most do not. However, the insurance documentation is so clumsy that I never understood what is covered and what is not. I hope insurance companies work on making the process and the rules simple for the users.

So sorry to hear that your 4 year old son got burned so badly by the campfire. And luckily you had a good travel insurance. I never travel without travel insurance. And I must say, every time I have stayed abroad long term I have had to use it several times. I really saved me lots of money. And like you mention, stuff happens, you never know.

We always take travel insurance for our major trips. If nothing else they serve to provide an additional layer of security in case something goes wrong. It doesn’t cost too much and its pretty fast to do.

yep, I’m completely with you, travel insurance is always worth it! you never know when you might get hurt on vacation and chances are the costs abroad will be through the roof. I’m definitely on your side!

I always travel with insurance. But if I still had small children, I would never even think twice. I can’t imagine having to take a burned child to the hospital while camping. I really wish I could find an annual plan that works for us. I will check out RBC (we are Canadians) but usually we are travelling too long on individual trips. Our current travel insurance is all forms and forms. Would like one that is all electronic! Thanks for sharing.

I used to teach that accidents that are prepared for don’t happen. Having said that, I’ve had my own share of accidents on the road, and without travel insurance, it’s been quite a challenge. Luckily now that I’m in the UK, I can get insurance for a tenth of what it would have cost me in the US. After three years on the road, I can fully agree that travel insurance something that everyone needs. Some countries won’t even let you in unless you have it.

In the excitement of travel, one tends to overlook some important aspects. One of these that often does not get the attention that it should is Travel Insurance. It really makes sense to have travel insurance as you never know the future. Travel should not turn into a nightmare because of say illness and heavy hospital bills not covered as one did not carry insurance.

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Thanks for visiting The Travelling Mom! I’m Claudia, an adventurous mom who loves to explore the world and travel with my family. This site shares modern-mom-tested family travel sanity tips, destination advice, and inspiration to stay ever curious and create lifelong travel memories.

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